Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel ‘shares the objectives’ of US ceasefire proposal

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel had no “objective” in the proposed ceasefire with Hezbollah, after Washington officials expressed dissatisfaction with his insistence that Israel continue to attack Lebanese militants “with all our might.” We share the same.”

US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron proposed a 21-day ceasefire on Wednesday in a last-ditch effort to prevent hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah from escalating into a full-scale war.

U.S. officials said the cease-fire call was coordinated with the Israeli side, but one diplomat said the U.S. would take a positive stance on a deal when Netanyahu arrives in New York, where he is scheduled to address the United Nations on Thursday. He said he was looking forward to it. General meeting later Friday.

However, after arriving in New York, Prime Minister Netanyahu said that Israel would continue its attacks on Hezbollah, after a number of far-right members of his government criticized the proposal, and that “all of our objectives, first and foremost, the return of Hezbollah.” We will not stop until we achieve this.” We will return northern residents safely to their homes. ”

In a statement released by the prime minister’s office Friday morning, Netanyahu said Israel “shares the goal of the U.S.-led effort to ensure the safe and secure return of people along the northern border to their homes.”

“Israel highly values U.S. efforts in this regard, as the role of the United States is essential in promoting regional stability and security,” the statement said, adding that discussions between U.S. and Israeli officials “will continue in the coming months.” It added that it would continue for “days”.

Israel has said one of the aims of the war is to ensure the security of Israel’s northern border areas so that more than 60,000 people displaced by Hezbollah rocket attacks can return to their homes.

U.S. officials say the ceasefire will give time to negotiate a more permanent ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah and pressure Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas to accept the terms of the hostage ceasefire deal in Gaza. I hope that it will be applied.

Two people familiar with the situation told the Financial Times on Thursday that the U.S. Prime Minister Netanyahu announced in a speech to the United Nations on Friday that Israel’s war in Gaza was entering a new phase. He said he hopes there is a possibility of persuading Hezbollah. It will not stop shelling Israel until the attack on Hamas ends, or until a temporary cease-fire is agreed.

But amid criticism of the plan from Israeli politicians, Israel continued to strike targets in Lebanon on Thursday, including carrying out airstrikes on the southern outskirts of Dahiyeh, targeting Hezbollah air operations commander Mohammed -Includes killing Sloa.

The attack came amid a major escalation in Israel’s operations against Iranian-backed groups. Meanwhile, Israel assassinated a series of commanders and launched an intense bombing campaign in Lebanon, killing more than 600 people and displacing some 90,000 more.

Those displaced include thousands of Syrian refugees who fled to Lebanon when war broke out in the neighboring country in 2011. Many of the more than 1.5 million Syrians in Lebanon have no right to work and live in increasingly desperate conditions.

They remain in Lebanon, fearing arrest, conscription or worse if they return to Syria, which is suffering from a security collapse and economic crisis.

Underscoring the desperate situation in Lebanon this week, more than 30,000 people have entered Syria from Lebanon since Monday, 80 percent of them Syrians and the rest Lebanese, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR. announced that he was a person. Syrian media reported, citing Syrian officials, that the total number of border crossings was even higher.

“They are trying to cross from a country at war to a country in crisis,” UNHCR Syria representative Gonzalo Vargas Llosa told a news conference in Geneva. [and] 13 years of conflict. . . We’ll have to see how many more do so in the coming days. ”

Fighting continued on Friday morning, with reports of Israeli airstrikes across Lebanon, resulting in numerous casualties. The state news agency reported that an Israeli airstrike in the southern village of Sheba killed at least nine members of one family.

Five Syrian soldiers were killed in an Israeli airstrike on the border with Lebanon, according to Syrian state media.

The Israeli military said Hezbollah fired 10 rockets toward the northern port city of Haifa. Israeli emergency services said one man was injured by shrapnel in the Sea of Galilee area.

The military announced overnight that Israel’s Arrow air defense system intercepted a surface-to-surface missile fired toward the country from Yemen. Iraqi Shiite militias also announced overnight that they had launched projectiles into Israel, but the Israel Defense Forces said it was not aware of any projectiles reaching the country.